44 results for 'cat:"Immunity" AND cat:"Wrongful Death"'.
J. Clay finds that both the University of Michigan and its doctor, who controlled the lab from which the fentanyl used by the decedent was taken, are entitled to sovereign immunity on due process and wrongful death claims filed by the estate. It seeks only monetary damages, while the university has also not waived the defense, given its only motion in response to the lawsuit was the underlying motion to dismiss. Reversed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Clay, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-1718, Categories: immunity, Due Process, wrongful Death
J. Clark finds that the lower court properly found for the police officers in a wrongful death suit filed by the family of a passenger in a fleeing car that hit a tree, killing both driver and passenger. The officers did not owe a duty to the decedent passenger as the fleeing driver had an absolute duty to yield to the officer when they approached with emergency lights on. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Clark, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: ED111491, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death
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J. O'Neil finds a lower court improperly dismissed a surviving spouse's wrongful death claims against a county. The county argued that it is entitled to immunity. However, the surviving spouse sufficiently showed in court that the county's constable convinced his wife, an apartment complex manager, to help her serve a writ of restitution on a violent tenant, which resulted in the tenant shooting and killing both women, and then killing himself. Reversed.
Court: Arizona Court Of Appeals Division Two, Judge: O'Neil, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 2 CA-SA 2023-91, Categories: Employment, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Ransom quashes this court's preliminary writ of mandamus in a wrongful death suit against a rehab center. The patient's family contract with the rehab center for a private room, but placed the patient with a roommate in November 2020, causing her to contract Covid-19 and die. There is no merit to the center's claim that the suit is barred by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, as the complaint never mentions the center's Covid-19 testing procedures as contributing to the patient's death.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Ransom, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: SC100099, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death, Covid-19
J. Hood finds the appeals court erroneously determined Colorado law requires a police officer to activate their lights and sirens for the entirety of a high-speed chase to be entitled to immunity for any personal injuries. The language of the statute includes no such language and allows for the application of immunity during any time period when an officer uses lights and sirens. Therefore, the officer who caused a fatal collision during a high-speed chase is entitled to immunity on wrongful death claims because he activated his lights well before he reached the intersection at which the collision occurred. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Hood, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 2024CO9, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death
J. Murphy finds the lower court erroneously denied the jail officers' motion for qualified immunity on civil rights claims filed by the estate of the WWE wrestler. It applied the Sixth Circuit's current caselaw standard, not the standard applicable in 2018 at the time of the inmate's suicide. Although current precedent requires prison guards "recklessly overlook" a pretrial detainee's strong likelihood of suicide, the standard applicable at the time of the incident in question required proof that guards "subjectively believed" there was a strong likelihood of suicide. Because all testimony from the guards in this case indicates the decedent never seemed suicidal, was not experiencing any drug or alcohol withdrawals, and was nearly two decades removed from a previous suicide attempt, they had no reason to believe he would kill himself and are entitled to immunity. Reversed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Murphy, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-5898, Categories: Civil Rights, immunity, wrongful Death
J. O'Neil finds a lower court properly partly ruled in favor of a surviving spouse's wrongful death claims against a county. The surviving spouse argued that the county is not entitled to judicial immunity after it sent his wife, a constable, now deceased, to a residence of a violent offender to serve process, who shot and killed her. However, the lower court properly concluded that legislative immunity does not shield the county's decision to appoint the constable, but erred in deciding that her acts of service of a writ were not protected by judicial immunity. Reversed in part.
Court: Arizona Court Of Appeals Division One, Judge: O'Neil , Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 2 CA-SA 2023-91, Categories: Employment, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Nagala denies the prison doctor's motion for summary judgment, ruling his failure to timely address the prisoner's history of hearing loss coupled with the onset of facial numbness and dizziness could be considered deliberately indifferent by a reasonable jury, which precludes the application of immunity on wrongful death and civil rights claims brought after the prisoner died from surgical complications. However, because the evidence brought to support the claims against the nurses consists almost entirely of inadmissible hearsay, the claims against all three nurses will be dismissed.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Nagala, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv337, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Poochigian finds that the trial court properly granted summary judgment to an irrigation district that operated a canal drain where two people drowned. Canal immunity barred the dangerous condition of public property claim because the father and daughter were not using the canal in the manner intended by the government when their vehicle ran off the road and overturned in the drain, even though the use was not volitional. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Poochigian, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: F084621, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death
J. Broniec enters a writ of prohibition ordering the court to enter judgment for the institution's employees in a wrongful death action stemming from the death of a severely disabled man after he slid down in his wheelchair and the wheelchair's belt strangled him. The employees are entitled to official immunity for their decision to use the pelvic harness and how tightly to fasten the straps.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Broniec, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: SC100069, Categories: Health Care, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Bryant denies the police officers' motion for summary judgment, ruling they are not entitled to qualified immunity on excessive force claims brought by the estate. There are too many questions of fact to allow the court to determine whether the officers' actions following an attempted block-in of the decedent's vehicle were reasonable. The speed of the decedent's vehicle, the path of the vehicle in relation to the officers who fired the fatal shots, and whether the decedent struck police vehicles or police vehicles struck the decedent's car are all questions of fact that must be answered by a jury.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Bryant, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 3:18cv1594, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Cody finds that the trial court properly dismissed a wrongful death and dangerous condition of public property claim against the state over a highway fatality. The state met all the reasonable design conditions needed for design immunity, and it had placed deer crossing signs on either side of the accident site. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Cody, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: B317192, Categories: immunity, Negligence, wrongful Death
J. Marbley denies the private fire department's motion for judgment on the pleadings, ruling it is not entitled to governmental immunity because its contract with a local municipality had expired at the time it responded to the fire and the firefighter who ran over the homeowners was not responding to or extinguishing a fire at the time of the accident. Additionally, there are issues of fact as to whether the firefighter's actions were reckless, which would also deprive him of immunity; therefore, judgment is not warranted at this stage of the litigation.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Marbley, Filed On: November 14, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1353, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Vehicle, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Biggs grants summary judgment to Rockingham County, a deputy sheriff and three paramedics who were sued for wrongful death by the family of a man who died of cardiac arrest at home after refusing the EMTs’ advice that he go to the hospital to treat his fever, low oxygen level and heightened respiratory rate. They properly determined he was alert and of sound mind when he repeatedly refused their assistance, so their behavior was not negligent, and the suing family did not bring an expert to testify to a medical malpractice claim. Additionally, the claim against the deputy is barred by public official immunity.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Biggs, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv95, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice
J. Caldwell finds that the power company was properly granted summary judgment after a tree trimmer was electrocuted while working away from its right of way. The company was entitled to up-the-ladder immunity since trimming branches away from power lines furthers public safety and prevents outages, and law requires such. Affirmed.
Court: Kentucky Court Of Appeals, Judge: Caldwell, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-1200-MR, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death
J. Cook grants the motion of a high school principal and superintendent for writ of mandamus to receive state-agent immunity in a case stemming from the death of a student who was inadvertently shot by a classmate who brought a gun to school. There is no evidence that the school officials acted beyond their authority.
Court: Alabama Supreme Court, Judge: Cook, Filed On: October 27, 2023, Case #: SC-2022-0981, Categories: immunity, Negligence, wrongful Death
J. Stras finds a lower court improperly denied three corrections officers' motion for qualified immunity. An estate administrator argued that corrections officers failed to attempt to resuscitate an inmate who had ingested fentanyl, which resulted in death by overdose. However, the corrections officers sufficiently showed in court that the lower court may have "tilted the scales too far" in the estate administrator's favor. Remanded.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Stras, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 22-1843, Categories: Civil Rights, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Rovner finds that the lower court improperly denied the police officer qualified immunity on wrongful death claims stemming from his fatal shooting of a suspect following a high-speed chase. The evidence shows that the officer exited his car, and placed himself within a few car-lengths of the suspect's car, who began to move his vehicle forward when the officer fired one shot. The officer reasonably fears for his own safety and that of the public if the suspect resumed his reckless flight. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Rovner, Filed On: October 18, 2023, Case #: 22-2211, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death, Police Misconduct
J. Mesiwala finds the trial court erred in dismissing a wrongful death claim against a school district by the parents of a student killed in a car collision. The student was in the car of a friend who picked her up because a district school bus did not arrive. Though the student was not in a school bus, the district is not immune because it had accepted the student into its bus program and undertaken to transport the student to school. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Mesiwala, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: C096394, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death
J. Teilborg grants a police officer's motion for qualified immunity concerning excessive force claims brought by an estate administrator. The police officer sufficiently showed in court that the estate administrator's decedent drove erratically in traffic, fled police while armed with a screw driver, and then intentionally attempted to ram his car into an occupied police vehicle. Affirmed.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Teilborg, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv8055, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, immunity, wrongful Death
J. Eppich finds a lower court properly dismissed a civilian's wrongful death claims. The civilian, a guardian of a child, argued that the lower court erred in ruling in favor of a City, deciding it was immune from wrongful death claims after a mother was struck and killed by a driver while crossing an unmanned pedestrian walkway, which replaced a monitored school crosswalk. However, the City is immune for liability for the alleged defective crosswalk based on its public entity status. Affirmed.
Court: Arizona Court Of Appeals Division Two, Judge: Eppich, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 2 CA-CV 2022-46, Categories: immunity, Negligence, wrongful Death
J. Grasz finds a lower court properly dismissed the Chief of Police's motion for qualified immunity concerning a car accident that resulted in the death of an estate administrator's son. The County argued that two police officers properly conducted a pit maneuver in order to thwart the mother's decedent from fleeing police in a high-speed chase. However, the estate administrator presented sufficient evidence in court that police officers failed to timely provide him with medical services for fatal injuries he suffered as the result of the crash. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Grasz, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 22-2749, Categories: immunity, wrongful Death